The present invention relates generally to a coupling, and in particular to a hose coupling.
It is already known to provide hose couplings having a housing composed of two hingedly connected shell sections which, when they are in closed position, can be pressed together by a tensioning arrangement. The housing accommodates a nozzle onto which an end of a hose can be slipped, and the nozzle is provided with a shoulder. In the region of the shoulder, flanges of the shell sections press against the hose, urging the same into tight contact with the nozzle to prevent it from slipping off the same. The nozzle is mounted in the housing composed of the shell sections by a mounting member which has the additional purpose of maintaining a precise axial positioning of the nozzle relative to the flanges which are to engage the hose, so that the flanges will always press the hose against the nozzle at the most advantageous location, namely adjacent to the shoulder mentioned earlier.
The prior-art constructions of this type are suitable only for connecting a single hose which can carry a single flowable medium. However, they are double or twin hoses which carry two different flowable media in parallelism. The external appearance of these twin hoses does not necessarily indicate the duality of their internal construction, because usually the two hoses are integrated into a single element. Interiorly, however, they have two entirely separate passages of circular cross-section. This type of hose is for instance used in the welding applications for transporting two fluids simultaneously.
Heretofore the connection of such a twin hose to a rigid hose coupling, or the connection of the ends of two twin hoses with one another, was possible only by cutting the twin hose apart at the free end thereof, so that the two portions, each provided with one of the internal passages, could be physically moved apart to permit the connection to be established. In many instances this is not at all possible, and even where the possibility exists such a solution is, of course, most unsatisfactory. This is especially true because once such a cut has been made, a running-along of the cut, that is a separation of the two individual passages to an extent which is greater in axial direction of the twin hose than is desired, cannot be precluded.